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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25950649">Lost in the Pacific</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sumikko/pseuds/sumikko'>sumikko</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Short One Shot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 07:34:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,156</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25950649</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sumikko/pseuds/sumikko</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Oneshot. Shepard returns to Earth for some much needed shore leave amid the Cerberus mission. Garrus joins to give her some company and emotional support. Takes place sometime mid-ME2.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Lost in the Pacific</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hey guys! I totally fell off the face of the Earth for a long ass time but I'm kind of back (after having some massive writer's block). I think most of you know me for my fanfic Investigating Amber and trust me it's in the works. For the longest I was trying to write the next chapter only to realize that it wasn't working out and I had to scrap it all. Currently I'm in the process of rewriting it but it's definitely been a bit slow. In the meantime...I hope ya'll enjoy this little one shot!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was that fleeting hour of the day when both the moon and sun are high and bright at the same time. The beginning of the end for another day. Like many things in her life, these shore leave nights wouldn’t last much longer. </p>
<p>Irene sat quietly on a large and rather flat boulder among many which overlooked the Pacific. Dark blue waves crashed against them rhythmically, casting droplets of salty mist onto her bare legs. She took a deep breath of the fresh air and exhaled slowly.</p>
<p>This was Earth. This was home, if she ever had one, and she was set to leave it once again. There had once been a time in her youth when she couldn’t wait to leave this planet, mainly to escape the squalor she lived in, and never look back. Yet here she was in her hometown of Los Angeles for two much needed weeks of shore leave. Irene felt a pang of nostalgia in her heart.</p>
<p>The stresses of assembling a capable team for the Cerberus-sponsored suicide mission called for such a mini-vacation. She had her whole team, secured their trust, and now all that faced her were the final preparations. But now as she looked out at the ocean, the last thing she wanted to focus on was anything even remotely related to Cerberus or the mission. Irene wanted to be selfish, for once, and reconnect with her roots. She wanted to lose herself to the waves…</p>
<p>A hand fell gently on her shoulder, interrupting her meditation, and she immediately tensed. As she turned to face the familiar figure towering over her, however, the harsh lines of her frown melted away into a soft smile. </p>
<p>“How’re you holding up?” Garrus asked, taking the liberty to sit beside her.</p>
<p>“I’m managing.” She turned back to the waves. “Taking some time to clear my head.”</p>
<p>“Hm.” He hummed as he adjusted into a comfortable cross-legged position. “I’d say it’s well deserved.”</p>
<p>A silence fell over them both before he continued, “—Didn’t know you had an affinity for the ocean.”</p>
<p>Irene offered him a little smirk. “Oh? I thought my aquarium would’ve been a dead giveaway.”</p>
<p>“Fair enough.” Garrus shrugged lightly in defeat.</p>
<p>“Don’t beat yourself up over it. It’s not something I really talk about.” She drew in a breath. “I grew up here. Well, not right by the ocean, but close enough.”</p>
<p>“It seems like a nice place to live.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, it is. If you have a home to come back to. And a family, maybe. Otherwise it can get pretty lonely living here in the city.” She began to recall some of the memories from her past. “Life was pretty tough in those days.”</p>
<p>He nodded attentively; his gaze understanding. “You wanna talk about it?”</p>
<p>Irene had never really divulged the memories of her time on Earth. At best, those around her just knew that she had a difficult childhood. It was common practice to mind your own business in the Alliance. Whatever your personal life was before your service didn’t matter. What did was your performance and dedication to the cause once you joined. </p>
<p>That practice stayed with her even now while living as a disgraced ex-Alliance soldier. Still, she supposed she could break that now. It wasn’t just any person who had asked her after all.</p>
<p>“Where should I start?”</p>
<p>“Wherever you’d like.”</p>
<p>His response gave her pause. She glanced up at the darkening sky as if she could find her answer there.</p>
<p>“My parents died when I was just a kid—probably twelve or thirteen—and I had no close family to speak of to take me in. So, I wandered the streets and got mixed up with some bad people. Being a young and impressionable biotic orphan made me a prime target for gangs and red sand dealers. I was a useful weapon to have.”</p>
<p>Garrus shook his head, appalled by the implications of what she faced. “You were just a child. I can’t imagine that being an easy living for you.”</p>
<p>“It wasn’t. I may have been useful to them, but that didn’t mean they treated me any better. If I proved my worth, I was lucky enough to get some food and maybe a bed to sleep at night. When missions went awry, I was left to fend for myself. The conditions weren’t great. Still, it was something. I had to survive somehow.”<br/>
A thoughtful pause came over Garrus. “How did you get a chance to join the Alliance?”</p>
<p>“I made a friend during my time here. His name was Thomas and he was like an older brother to me. We met early on and became inseparable, even running with these gangs together.” Irene unconsciously kicked her legs out a few times to bring some feeling back into them. “One day when we were older, maybe around sixteen or seventeen, he came up with the idea of enlisting. I wasn’t on board at first, but I came around eventually. Once we both turned eighteen we ran away and joined at the nearest Alliance recruiting center. It was one of the best decisions we ever made.”</p>
<p>Garrus leaned to the side. “All things considered, I’m surprised you would come back.”</p>
<p>“I wanted to come back to something that was familiar, you know? Especially after all this Cerberus shit, I needed this. I may have had it bad growing up, but it wasn’t always all that bad. I had my moments, my places of refuge.” She gestured with her hand out into the vast expanse of the ocean. “This was one of them.”</p>
<p>He didn’t respond right away. He took a moment—at least it seemed—to really take in the view of the ocean, and she joined him. Strangely enough, she felt even more at peace than she had before he came. It felt good to be heard in a place where she wasn’t only Commander Shepard. Right now, with him, she was back to being just Irene.</p>
<p>“Thank you for confiding in me.” Garrus finally said, drawing her attention back to him. “I know that’s not something to be taken lightly.”</p>
<p>Irene smiled warmly at Garrus, tilting her head to the side out of curiosity. “Can I ask you something kind of unrelated?”</p>
<p>“Sure.”</p>
<p>“You could have spent your last day of shore leave anywhere, but you came to find me...why—?”</p>
<p>“—Because <em>I</em>  wanted something familiar.” He interrupted rather boldly before shyly adding, “And because I enjoy your company.”</p>
<p>Irene’s heart fluttered in her chest despite herself and her smile grew into a grin. She surprised him when she closed the gap between them without hesitation and planted a kiss at the corner of his mandible.</p>
<p>“In that case, let me show you around for a little while. There’s another place not too far from here that I like going to.”</p>
<p>Garrus gave her hand a squeeze. “I’d like that.”</p>
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